Head gasket

[Falcon_LS]

A friend borrowed my Montero last night, because his vehicle was in for service and he had something he urgently needed to do. He called me at one point, saying my truck stalled at a traffic light and did not start at first. At his next try, it started. I was very nervous, because my truck never behaves like that...I'm concerned about the smallest of details.

When he returned it, there was steam coming from under the hood. I popped it open and there was no coolant in the reservoir or the radiator. He said he was stopped by someone on the road, to say there was something leaking from the truck. From what he's told me, it was leaking between the back of the engine and the transmission. He said he only drove it for 5 minutes, but I cannot confirm that. I tried to hide my emotions, having voluntarily done a cylinder head job on this engine last September.

I pulled out the dipstick and the oil (Mobil 1 0W-40) has a strange, strong smell to it...cannot make out what exactly the strong smell is. Obviously, if the head gasket is toast then it will be clear in the morning. Going to fill up the system with water, and leave the radiator cap off...hopefully it won't be pushed back up.

Obviously, I'm not going to be able to sleep tonight...and as soon as the sun rises, I'm going to check on my truck. What are the chances of the head gasket being damaged?

I'm so sad right now, especially after my cylinder head job just 14,000 km and 3 months ago.

 

[addyguy]

I'm really, really sorry to hear this, but this is exactly why I don't think major repairs should be done to high-mileage engines - once one 'big thing' goes, other stuff will follow, until the cost of the repiars far, far exceeds the value of the vehicle.

I really hope it's just a minor 'glitch' in your system, and that no major damage was done.....

 

[tomcat27]

sorry to hear.... you need to find the source of the coolant leak, which is a little odd coming from the rear - especially in enuf quantity for another motorist to notice. hopefully you quickly find the leak and its a hose or a freeze plug - and not anything major.

 

[XS650]

My guess is that the engine lost it's coolant and your friend kept driving it until it overheated enough to stop.

If that's the case, your engine is toast, there is a good chance it wiped out the pistons and rings as well as warping the head.

If you are lucky, the M1 protected the engine enough to save the pistons and rings, but there is still a good chance your head is warped.

 

[robshelton]

While I will hope you have a freeze plug leaking, it sounds like you are going to need some new head bolts and head gasket. In general it's safer to replace the head bolts whenever doing a head job. I know, I know most of us - including me - usually don't. But I have had a few bolts stretch and one even had the bolt head snap off!

If you want to try, you can re-torque the head bolts and hope for the best, but if any feel spongy replace 'em! Good Luck!

 

[JimPghPA]

Don't want to insult you, but I don't know you from adam, and therefore have no idea of your mechanical background or aptitude. So I want to mention to you that after you remove the heads if you have any way to check flatness / lack of being warped, when you have them off you should do it. If you have a long flat piece of metal us that as a reference. If you have no mechanical means to check them, just sight down the length of them and look for warp.

Did you re-torque the head bolts after driving it for a few hundred km? If not, if you end up re-doing the head gasket be sure to re-torque after a few hundred km the next time.

As for the engine being toast due to over-heating, could be, but just as likely it is still ok. Reminds me of an old dirt bike I owned. We use to beat the heck out of it. I remember one winter outing how we would hit the cylinder with a huge snowball to get the cylinder to cool and shrink so it would grab the piston and stall the engine so who ever was riding it would have to wait a half minute before they could get it to run again. That engine ran for many more years of use after that.

The Mobil 1 oil might of protected the critical moving parts enough, or you might have something that was critically damaged. You will have to try it and see what you get.

Good Luck.

 

[Silk]

Is this ''Montero'' the V6 Pajero? I won't mention waterpump....The V6 petrol is pretty tough,and needs to be seriously overheated before they blow a gasket or damage the cyl heads,unlike the diesels which destroy the head straight away.Good luck,I'm sure it's not as bad as you think....

 

[pidster]

Well, he was good enough of a friend that you trusted him with your vehicle, hopefully that means he`s good enough of a friend to help you out in fixing this problem, though I really doubt it`s his fault. I`m sure the issue would have happened with you behind the wheel had his car been on the road that day. I`m also hoping this doesn`t ruin your friendship.

I hate to say it but it sounds like a blown head gasket to me if it`s getting into your oil - hopefully the gasket is all it is and it didn`t overheat enough to warp anything.

Compression and leak down test all the cylinders and go from there. I hope you can fix the problem(s) with as little money and hassle as possible. I feel for you, it really sucks when something like this happens to your car, especially just after you sunk a bunch of money and time into fixing it up. I`ll never forget the night that this absolute IDIOT flew out of a parking lot and smashed into my tercel causing more damage than the car`s worth, just months after I put a fully rebuilt engine into it. Between the cost of those two jobs I could have almost bought a new economy car. The passenger side still doesn`t look right, insurance wouldn`t do a $3500 repair on a $1500 car but I couldn`t bring myself to get rid of it with a new motor that will easily run another 300,000 kilometers.

 

[Falcon_LS]

Many thanks for the input. I actually re-torqued the heads at the 10,000 kilometre mark, just to be in the safe so to speak. It's not the only vehicle at home, but this one has sentimental value to me, so it's not easy to let it go. A quick update on the situation...

This morning I filled up the radiator, with regular tap water, until it was full. Afterwards, I started the engine and let it run. I immediately noticed there was water all under the car and managed to pinpoint exactly where it was coming from - the heater core hose:

Took the Marquis out for a trip down to the Mitsu dealer, and purchased a set of heater core hoses for $28 and drove back home. Their location is a major PITA to get at, so it took me a good hour to replaced them.

After replacing them, I refilled the system with regular tap water and left the radiator cap off before starting the engine. She fired right up, and there wasn't a fountain of water coming out the radiator, so I thought I must be in the safe. My next step was to do a pressure test, to find if there are any other leaks - thankfully, there were none. The water was also as clean, no traces of oil or anything else.

Next step was the compression test. Compression was 180 all round, except cylinder 6 read 177. Replaced all the spark plugs, and I plan on changing the oil as soon as time permits. I'm also going to be flushing out the cooling system in a few minutes, and refill with a 70% distilled water to 30% (Motorcraft Green) ratio.

My friend was also very helpful, he showed up as early as 8 AM this morning to see if there was anything he could do...and even though he wanted to cover the expenses out of his own pocket, I didn't allow that to happen. As others have mentioned, it could have happend with me as well. I'm really glad everything worked out just fine.

 

[Falcon_LS]

Originally Posted By: Silk
Is this ''Montero'' the V6 Pajero? I won't mention waterpump....The V6 petrol is pretty tough,and needs to be seriously overheated before they blow a gasket or damage the cyl heads,unlike the diesels which destroy the head straight away.Good luck,I'm sure it's not as bad as you think....


Sorry forgot to mention, yes this is the V6 Pajero. I just use "Montero" to make easier for people to know what vehicle I'm on about.

 

[Cutehumor]

wow, I hate that your engine overheated over a hose. hoses are like $10.

 

[Propflux01]

Hose must have gotten eaten by that danged 'ole Dexcool!

 

[Herz]

Nice to see that your friend was there to take responsibility and lend a hand!

 

[mechtech2]

I have fixed head gaskets and other leaks on engines.
Sometimes, the next weakest link in the system goes out because of the new greater pressure, and of course it is our fault.

 

[Colt45ws]

Yup. I replaced all the hoses on the Montana except for these two little 5/16" hoses that feed coolant to the throttle body. Guess which ones blew.

 

[mechanicx]

Originally Posted By: XS650
My guess is that the engine lost it's coolant and your friend kept driving it until it overheated enough to stop.

If that's the case, your engine is toast, there is a good chance it wiped out the pistons and rings as well as warping the head.

If you are lucky, the M1 protected the engine enough to save the pistons and rings, but there is still a good chance your head is warped.


I agree. This is why you can't loan your car to anyone. If something like this should happen like a rapid coolant loss, they will just keep driving it until they ruin the motor. If they had been watching the guages they could've stopped and shut the engine down and let the vehicle cool. Then no serious damage would be done. Of course they never do this, so they are really responsible for ruining your motor. Of course they never offer to pay for the damage either.

But I guess the OP was the exception this time with no engine damage and a rare friend that offered to pay for any damage.

 

[robshelton]

I'm glad to hear the outcome of this episode seems all well and good! Yes, it would have happened if you were driving and it's great your friend appeared to help out! You didn't mention replacing the thermostat. That's probably just an over-site as you seem knowledgeable about the other stuff. I'd replace it immediately. Once it gets too hot you can't trust them. Congrats on the save! I'd re-torque the head bolts again anyway just to be safe.

 

[UNC017]

Sounds like this one falls in the "poop happens" file. I'm pretty aggressive about replacing hoses for this very reason- I HATE to have a $10 part wreck a $2000 engine. Looks like you dodged that problem this time!

 

[CROWNVIC4LIFE]

Glad it was nothing major...Not many people take care such good care of their cars like you.

 

[benjamming]

Originally Posted By: Onmo'Eegusee
Yup. I replaced all the hoses on the Montana except for these two little 5/16" hoses that feed coolant to the throttle body. Guess which ones blew.


Similar to this I changed all hoses on my 3.1L GM except for 1 heater hose. Fortunately for me it didn't fail until the LIM gasket failed again so I was able to replace that last heater hose. It was swelled w/o much strength.